Finished REI portion of trip. Now on to Phuket and beach. We had final goodbye dinner with group last night. Five of us were on the same Thai airways flight this afternoon. The final boat to Ko Phi Phi island (where out resort is located) left at 2:30 pm. Our flight didn't land until 2:45 pm so we're spending Monday in Phuket. One of our REI campers from Durham, NC, is letting us stay with her at the Royal Phuket Yacht Club on Nai Harn Beach (south tip of island). The resort is sending a taxi at 7:15 Tuesday morning to take Dawn and me to the island. We spent the afternoon at the beach.

Pic link below shows hill tribe eco-lodge in Chang Dao. This us where we stayed on Saturday night after our bike rides. We biked to and toured some caves where monks lived 300 years ago.

http://yfrog.com/3opdbj

Almost done with REI portion of trip. Kayaked 6 miles on Friday and mountain biked 41 miles since then. Definitley ready for another $2 Thai foot massage. We stayed at an small eco-lodge last night with Western toilets but no electricity. I'll post photos to Facebook when I have Internet. No stomach bugs. Feel great. We leave for Phuket tomorrow at 12:35 pm. Ready for some lazy beach time.

Back in outskirts of Chiang Mai at Royal Ping resort. Hiked 15 miles in past two days and stayed in remote hill tribe villages last two nights. Locals put us up in their longhouse. Today is first day with electricity and western toilets since Tuesday morning. Biking tomorrow. Resting this afternoon by pool. Having rice for every meal. Walked through tea and coffee plantations today. Local villagers are cuttin tea leaves and selling them at market. Feel great. No sickness. Love to all.

About to leave Padeng village. Slept in longhouse with no electricity. Had mosquito nets and sleeping bags. Village is home to about 80 Lahu people who migrated from Tibet about 80 years ago. Village surrounded by coffee bean plants. Twelve-mile hike to next village about to start.

Day 1 Excursion

Today we hiked about 5 miles in the hills west of Chiang Mai. We saw rice, corn, bananas, coffee, starfruit, sugar cane, peanuts, pineapple, ginger and some variety of Thai plums. It was really hot and really humid but we took lots of water breaks and a lengthy lunch break. I've posted some photos of the trip so far to Facebook. It's a public page viewable to anyone.

Tomorrow we pack for two days in our backpacks. We'll ride elephants in the morning and do more hill trekking in the afternoon. The next two nights we're in longhouses which don't have electricity so this may be the last post for a few days. Everything is going really well. No stomach bugs or travel sickness. Love to all.

Sunday Night

Here's a picture from the back of the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. We arrived safely on the train this morning and met up with the rest of our group. Our group is made up of a father (surgeon) and son (pre-med student) from Spokane, Washington; two friends (both nurses) from Denver; a mother and daughter from Seattle; a husband (Centers for Disease Control) and wife from New Mexico; and a girl our age from Durham, NC.

Today we visited the Doi Suthep temple in the hills of Chiang Mai where remains of Buddha are enshrined in a gold globe. I had to buy long pants. Shorts and sleeveless shirts (basically anything showing skin) are forbidden inside the temple.

We visited a market this afternoon and had Thai foot massages ($2 for 30 minutes). It felt wonderful. We sampled some fruit purchased in the flower and food market and even tried fried grasshopper and silkworm larvae. I didn't go back for seconds. The grasshopper tasted like earthy sand and the larvae was juicy.

Tomorrow we do a 5-mile hike and return to the hotel before trekking out for more rustic accommodations.

About two hours from Chiang Mai. Train ride is good.We have an upper and lower bunk. Private sleeping car with sink. Everything here is really cheap. We hired a taxi driver in Bangkok to drive us anywhere we wanted for $30 the entire day! Bottled water is 18 cents.

A Class Act -- Great Aunt Martha

Martha W. James, 91, passed away early Friday morning, July 17, at Seton Medical Center in Austin. Weed-Corely-Fish Funeral Home of Austin was in charge of arrangements with burial in North Belton Cemetery.

Ms. James was born in Belton to Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. James Sr., in the family home on North Penelope Street. She graduated valedictorian from Belton High School and received her undergraduate degree from Mary-Hardin Baylor College in Belton. Afterward, she received her master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Ms. James continued her education at the University of Michigan, earning a bachelor’s degree in library science – a field of study that remained a source of delight and her passion for the remainder of her life.

Ms. James worked as a librarian in Detroit and Sacramento, California, before moving to Philadelphia where she worked as a reference librarian at the University of Pennsylvania until her retirement.

After retirement, Ms. James moved back to Austin and lived at the Westminster Manor where she expanded the library and volunteered her time. Retirement never dampened her spirit for learning, cultural expansion, music and the arts. Ms. James was a frequent patron of the arts traveling to Houston and downtown Austin for ballet, opera and symphony performances.

She attended services at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin until her health deteriorated.

Ms. James is preceded in death by her parents, sisters Eleanor James and Kathrine James, and brother Robert (Bob) B. James Jr. She is survived by niece Maggie James of Morgan’s Point; nephew Jim James and wife, Sharon, of Temple; and great-nephew Mark James and wife Suzanne, and great-great nephew Luke James of Round Rock, and great-nephew David James of Cedar Park.

The family requests that memorials be made to the Bell Country Museum (201 N Main St. Belton, Texas 76513) or a local library of your choice.

Thailand Update

Where did the time go? It seems like just last week that Dawn and I were at Dominican Joe’s booking the REI Adventures vacation to Thailand. Now it’s less than two week away. I’ve cut and pasted our itinerary while there so anyone who’s interested can check out where we’ll be each day.

I’m planning to use Skype on the iPhone to contact family while there. If that doesn’t work out, I’ve heard lots of people say they’ll just buy a cheap mobile phone and add top-up credits for texting.

So here’s the plan: I fly to Los Angeles on Thursday morning. The Mark James Express has agreed to pick me up early that morning. (Thanks Mark!) Dawn and I rendezvous at LAX and fly to Tokyo later that day. There’s a four-hour layover in Tokyo before catching a flight to Bangkok. We’ll spend the night in Bangkok before boarding the Thai Railway for a 12-hour overnight ride to Chiang Mai. We’ll have about half a day for sightseeing in Bangkok before boarding the train. Once in Chiang Mai, we’ll meet our travel buddies for the next nine days. Our group leader/guide is named Mr. Pan. He’s a local Thailand native who’s been leading tours for 20-plus years. I can already tell I’m going to like this guy.

For the next nine days, the group of 10 will travel around the northern province with a mix of hiking, biking, boating and canoeing. Some of the schedule stops include an elephant sanctuary, a tea plantation, northern hill tribes and several Buddhist temples where we can interact with the monks.

After those nine days, Dawn and I will catch a flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket where we’ll take a ferry to Ko Phi Phi Island. This where the resort is located. We’ll remain for the rest of the trip. We’ll likely catch a ferry back to Phuket every now and then for excursions and “city life.”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad about my absence from Africa this year. It’s the first time in more than 2 ½ years I haven’t been planning for Zambia. I feel guilty for ditching my boys I’ve grown so close to these past two summers. My parents sponsor Isaac, one of the young boys in my group. In a recent letter he asked if Uncle David would be visiting him again this year. It broke my heart. But I know I’ll be over there again. I’m hoping for sooner rather than later.

View Thailand itinerary here.